1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to disk drive interfaces, and in particular to a systems and methods for controlling access to a disk drive read channel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hard disk drives (HDDs) have become sufficiently dense to find new uses in very small computing devices. The sizes of today's disk drives can vary in size from about 0.85 to about 3.5 inches. Disks may also vary in storage capacity (up to 500 gigabytes), and speed (anywhere from 3,000 to 15,000 revolutions per minute, or RPMs) depending on the application and requirements such as capacity, access speed, durability, cost and power. Their reliability and accurate storage capabilities will only lead to increased demand in smaller and smaller applications (smaller MP3 players, handheld computers, etc.).
The advances that have been made in disk drive storage density have uncovered other limitations. As the density of disk drives increases, other factors may be limiting the extent to which the size of the application may be reduced. For example, components that make up the disk drive system may become physical obstacles to further shrinking an application.
Disk drives typically include a disk, at least two motors, a read/write head, a preamplifier, a read channel, a hard disk controller, and a motor controller. The hard disk controller and motor controller are typically on a host board. The preamplifier is typically located closer to the read-write head. The preamplifier often connects to the host board via a flex cable. These and other components take up space. A need exists to reduce the amount of space used by the components of a disk drive.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.